Monday, April 22, 2013

Everyone knows how badly Detroit needed two points tonight, seems like a theme this season. Don't worry; you will not be reading any complaints about the lack of performance tonight, though! The Detroit Red Wings had a beautiful shutout tonight against Phoenix, winning 4 to 0!

The Wings were aggressive and every single player was not allowing for another loss (maybe besides Cleary and Smith). The first period would seem rocky when looking at the shots on goal, 4 to 12. However, the score did not reflect the shots on goal. Within the first three minutes, Johan Franzen scored a tip-in goal on
the power play. The next penalty Phoenix suffered from also resulted in the Red and White scoring. Damien Brunner had a beautiful goal with less than a minute left in the first period. The shots on goal were few, but were quality shots. Luckily, Detroit had netminder Jimmy Howard to stop the force that came from Phoenix. Detroit lead 2-0 after twenty.

The Wings looked to continue a strong lead in the second. In doing that, they needed to shoot the puck more and keep Phoenix away from Jimmy. While Howard only had to face two less shots than the first, Detroit obviously was making a continued effort. Detroit had 12 shots and one successful goal from Valterri Filppula. That is right, you read that correctly: Val scored a goal. The Wings had successfully scored on 3 out of 4 power plays through the first forty minutes. Detroit was feeling good with a 3-0 lead.

The third period was not a different story. Justin Abdelkader engaged in a small brawl and Johan Franzen scored on an empty net. Franzen landed his second goal of the night with about two minutes left in the game. The Wings took the much needed two points with a 4-0 shutout against Phoenix.

The three stars of the game were Damien Brunner, followed by Henrik Zetterberg and lastly Jimmy Howard. While I think that Detroit picked a great top three powered by Ram Trucks, I think that Jimmy should have been first. Jimmy faced 34 shots on goal compared to the 23 that Detroit produced. The netminder did not allow one goal, giving Detroit any easy win even if they only scored once. Howard has been nothing short of

outstanding this short season. He has had a couple rocky games here and there, but since March 22 the Wings have failed to have more than a couple goals each game. Howard has been solid and proved that again tonight. 23 shots on goal is great and four of those making it into the back of the net is definitely welcomed, but savings 34 is even more outstanding. Howard is definitely my hero of the night.

One down and three to go. Detroit will verse the LA Kings on Wednesday at 7:30pm. Hopefully the fans of Detroit will bring that same playoff like atmosphere at the Joe to drive the Wings to push to another win. Until then, don't forget to like our Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more Detroit Red Wings coverage!